Published 4:00 am, Sunday, July 23, 2006

Hunched over a table in the Rayburn House Office Building, close enough to the kitchen to smell the reheated spaghetti, an investigator hunts for signs of corporate misconduct. Two floors down, in a basement cubbyhole, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist is busy discovering that some seniors can do better at Costco than through the new Medicare prescription plan. Up the block, at another outpost, a researcher has spread out Dick Cheney's personal finances to see how the latest GOP tax cuts will benefit administration bluebloods. Nearby, staff lawyers look at clean air regulations, AIDS funding and whether a Los Angeles renovation project will make traffic worse.

Meanwhile, back in the main office, legislative aides are finishing up a bill to end global warming. World peace may have to wait until Wednesday.

By most measures, Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, 66, of Los Angeles ought to be one of the most irrelevant elected officials in Washington. He's been in Washington since 1974, but his party is in the minority. He is an unapologetic liberal in a Capitol dominated by uncompromising conservatives. And his public utterances are so unfailingly partisan that he has little capacity to get cooperation from his Republican colleagues. He also contributes to the toxic political climate that many decry in present-day Washington.

Yet at a time when many of his Democratic colleagues have spent the last decade in a defensive crouch, outmaneuvered by their GOP rivals, Waxman has found another way to have an impact -- going outside normal legislative channels to exert influence on issues he cares about. In the process, he has also made himself into what many Republicans consider the biggest pest east of the Mississippi.

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The key to Waxman's unlikely success is this: He has assumed a big chunk of the watchdog role usually filled by the entire Congress, probing deep into government programs and problems to oversee a president and GOP he believes have run amok.

As ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee -- the chief oversight body of the House -- Waxman has leveraged every scrap of his party's resources. He has poked and prodded the Bush administration on Iraq's elusive weapons of mass destruction, on faulty prewar intelligence, and on Halliburton's questionable contracts.

He has thrown up roadblocks to protect environmental laws he helped pass when Democrats controlled the Hill, including clean air and food safety rules. He nettles and needles, firing off blistering letters to agency directors, Army generals, the GOP leadership and the president.

But the most effective weapon in Waxman's arsenal is a staff of high-powered lawyers, investigators and technical experts who churn out penetrating and fact-laden reports -- 250 a month on average. Many find their way into headlines.

The research Waxman's staff generates is so strong and so pointed it gives his GOP colleagues heartburn, including Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who chairs the Government Reform Committee.

"Henry Waxman, left to his own devices, is not a welcome sight for Republicans," said Davis.

Kevin Madden, a spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, complained that Waxman often chooses his research targets primarily to get publicity. "There's a big difference between responsible oversight and a game of investigations charades which are merely in search of a headline," he said. "It gets to a point where it's more shtick than substance."

Journalists, advocacy groups and Democratic colleagues who make use of Waxman's research counter that even if his motives are political, the public gains valuable information about issues, such as how the new Medicare drug benefit is working. That, in turn, can affect public opinion and drive public policy.

And, should Democrats recapture the House in November, Waxman is in line to chair the oversight committee, which would give him more staff and the authority to issue subpoenas and call hearings on virtually anything relating to industry or government.

Investigative reporters in Washington agree that, partisan as Waxman is, his staff research is highly reliable. Chief Counsel Phil Barnett, the final gatekeeper, vets every report the office releases.

The impact of the research is magnified by the close relationships members of Waxman's staff maintain with news reporters. Phil Schiliro, the congressman's veteran chief of staff, is on a first-name basis with members of most major news organizations in Washington.

Communications Director Karen Lightfoot keeps tabs on what selected reporters are working on.

As a result, without holding news conferences -- as many longer-winded colleagues do -- Waxman and his staff are able to spread their findings to large audiences.

"Like blowing on a dandelion," said Schiliro.

Waxman's critics say his beliefs are unbending and his efforts confined to favorite targets of liberals -- especially the tobacco and insurance industries, chemical companies and the GOP.

Conservatives liken him to a male Jane Fonda or a liberal version of their own Tom DeLay, the disgraced former House majority leader known for his intense partisanship.

"It is clear his interest has always been more focused on using his position for partisan attack rather than legislative achievement. Ultimately, I do not believe his efforts would really help the Democrats' position or image," said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster.

Five-foot-five, bald and bespectacled, Waxman looks more like an industrious bean counter than a scourge. His chic district, which includes Santa Monica, Bel Air and West Hollywood, qualifies him as Congressman to the Stars, but although he is well-connected, he avoids the glitz.

Celebrities embrace his causes, but he has never attended the Oscars. His idea of a perfect evening is taking a walk with his wife, Janet, their iPods synchronized.

Waxman's name is hardly a household word in the heartland, but back when Democrats ruled Congress, he was a leader among those who pushed for landmark laws it's now hard to remember life without: nutrition labels on food, smoke-free airplanes, the Clean Air Act, safe drinking water, Ryan White AIDS legislation, nursing home regulation, access to generic and rare drugs, toy safety and reducing pesticides in food.

That was before 1994, when a tidal wave of voter anger swept House Democrats from power for the first time in 40 years. Waxman lost control of the subcommittee on health and the environment. He found himself shut out of conference committees, gagged during debates and banished from the lawmaking process.

And his intense partisanship contributed to his isolation.

So he looked for a different way to have impact on public issues. "I had to re-create myself as a member of Congress," Waxman said.

He turned to oversight, the traditional congressional practice of delving into federal programs and agencies to see whether they are operating effectively.

His greatest weapon proved to be as basic as it was powerful: information, in the form of documented research dug up by his Washington staff of 45.

They have cranked out about 2,000 reports on an expanse of topics since Waxman became the committee's ranking Democrat eight years ago, building a vault of data on his congressional Web site that is accessible to the public.

Waxman says he does not aspire to higher office, so he doesn't need more publicity than he already receives.

Still, he pops up in places like Ladies' Home Journal, and footage from his more publicized hearings has turned up in three films, most recently "Thank You For Smoking."

Waxman does not have to worry about the everyday political concerns that consume most of his colleagues' time and energy. In 30 years, his district has never sent him to Washington with less than 61 percent of the vote. He does not campaign, makes no TV ads, doesn't so much as put up a yard sign.

Freed from the incessant demands of campaigning, he will spend decades working on an issue -- the Clean Air Act alone took 10 years to usher into law.

However, legislative success usually comes with being in the majority party. If Democrats win in November, Waxman's job could grow easier.

Former Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., who went head to head with Waxman on tobacco regulation, put it like this: "I would suspect the Bush administration would very much know he was in charge."